While we strive for a lively and vigorous debate of the issues, we do not tolerate name calling, foul language or other inappropriate behavior. Please see our discussion guidelines and terms of use for more information.

While we do our best to moderate comments, we do not screen comments before they are posted. If you see a comment that violates our guidelines, please use the "Report Abuse" link to notify us of the issue.

No the focus is on gun safety and banning assault rifles. Adam Lanza used an assault rifle with a large magazine clip to murder 20 innocent children. These are items that never should have been available or legal.

Furthermore, I am appalled at the lack of understanding and compassion shown by the comments on this board at the needless loss of life caused by these weapons. Maybe if someone shoots you or your children you will have a better understanding of what these parents and family members are going through! How many more people need to die before we pass sensible gun laws?

The focus should be on mental illness. Both Lanza and Holmes were on psychotropic drugs to treat mental illness. If you read up on these drugs, you'll see side-effects of emotional detachment, rage, and a long list of other things that will make their actions no surprise to anyone. As long as criminals, or the insane have the ability to obtain weapons illegally (and the always will), I, as a responsible/non-criminal, should have the right to legally obtain weapons as effective (and preferably MORE effective) to defend myself and my family. Someone else mentioned never needing to carry a rifle as a "concealed" weapon, and that's true, but I should have the right to have one in my home to defend it from some whack-job that unlawfully enters it.

Frankly, I'm appalled at your lack of understanding. Maybe someday we can have as stringent of laws as the UK, where the violent crime rate is 3 times that of the US (as reported by the FBI and UK's equivalent). That would be great, huh?

gopack123: Your comments makes several statements that stagger me by their incredulity. Lanza, who his own mother knew was mentally ill, killed his mom and stole the guns that he used. That's two major felonies right there. Apparently he wasn't deterred by the laws (no criminal or crazy ever is) and he was highly motivated (he killed his mom by a shot in the face at close range.) What can be said is that his mother, who knew that Lanza could fly into a terrible rage at a moment's notice, should have had those guns in a locked gun safe with only she knowing the combination or having the key.

Second, your statement "...needless loss of life caused by these weapons" makes no sense whatsoever an shows the main flaw in any argument over firearms: focus on the gun and not the individual using it. In essence you are putting the gun in control of Adam Lanza instead of the other way around. Where is the antigun crowd's outrage at Adam Lanza? Why aren't they putting HIM under the microscope instead of so-called "assault weapons"? Why aren't they demanding that his doctors be held to account for him no being in an asylum? Instead, the anti-gun zealots prefer to take the easier route by trying to ban personal ownership of semi-automatic, military style rifles as if that i going to solve anything. Attack a totally inanimate object that is safely kept and enjoyed by hundreds of thousands, if not more, safe and law abiding people. Such bans have never done anything ever to stop a crime. The only thing that they do is end up in the trashbin of laws that are never enforced except against law-abiding gun owners and gun dealers. When is the last time that you ever heard of a criminal being charge with a violation of one of these laws?

Wait a minute folks. The CT goon (I refuse to use his name) had Aspberger's. Having this disease does not make one more or less inclined to violence. It was his mother's attempt at committing him (supposedly) that set him off.

Regardless of what you may have heard or read, he was on a drug called Fanapt, which is used to treat schizopherenia. Holmes was also on this. See link:http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2012/12/report-adam-lanza-was-on-fanapt.htmlKeep reading till you get to the list of side-effects... I have to ask, what was so bad about his condition that made the side-effects a worth-while risk.

Abbott and Costello are in no position to demand anything. I do however , like how they threw in that "more money for policing" part. Come to think of it , I don't recall ever seeing any assault weapons , or hi-caps mags on our streets?

They forgot a couple solutions: Enact a law that prevents a DA from plea bargaining away a gun crime such as felon in possession. (Chisholm routinely does that.) In fact, make plea bargaining a gun law a felony. Two, do something so that the criminals are inconvenienced as regards guns. Right now these proposed gun laws only apply to folks who legally buy firearms. Three, and this doesn't require any law whatsoever, be manically relentless in enforcing laws that relate to violent crime. Hound the criminals and crazy people. Make it very, very uncomfortable for them to be on the streets. Right now it is the law abiding citizen who fears the criminal on the streets. It MUST be turned the other way around. Lastly, theft of a firearm MUST become a top-shelf felony punishable by a mandatory 25-life in prison without any chance for parole. Most of the firearms used by criminals are stolen, not purchased at a gun shop or gun show. That crime must come with such a withering, draconian penalty that any thought a criminal might have of stealing a gun causes him to wet his pants. You will find that criminals will then be hard-pressed to find a gun in any illegal fashion and legal gun owners will not be harassed.

Surely you are not suggesting that we should hound the convicts, that would be harassment. It's so much easier to make new laws in typical knee-jerk feel-good fashion to disenfranchise the law abiding citizen

Really? This comes from Chief Flynn? Under Flynn Firearm search warrants (those for felons in possession of a firearm) have fallen 100 percent and recoveries of illegal guns have fallen by at least 28 percent. WHY? All to reduce his crime numbers. Flynn is a master at the art of BS because he think the citizens of Milwaukee are dumb enough to believe his rhetoric. Perception is not reality Chief Flynn. REALITY IS REALITY. Crime and gun violence is up while you and Mayor Barrett try to spin your way to a cabinet post.

The 2nd supporters exploit the idea that its the felons with a gun to promote their right to own guns. The recent mass killers were not felons. There is no apparent evidence through the media that the Sandy Hook killer had gun training or a gun license.

To foster the myth that its the felons with guns DAs charged for having non-operating or parts of guns.

Gun control has had the opposite impact to market for more people to have guns than ever before. The Democrats screaming for gun control you have to wonder if they own stock in the gun companies because all that does is increase gun sales.

Its get old that we are 'preventing' deaths when fewer have the ability to stay off welfare.

Regulate the assault type weapons and restore the rights of all US citizens to own pistols and basic shotguns including felons.

Stop the lies, issue ad politics. Lawmakers that get lost to support legislation based on hyped issue ad politics I won't vote to re-elect.

I apologize for making an incorrect statement to all but the name caller.This discussion really doesn't warrant name calling.This discussion demands we figure out, together, the best way to prevent mass shootings from happening again.Nothing less is acceptable.

I can understand people are afraid of loosing the rights they now enjoy.But no one is demanding anyone give up hunting, handguns or hunting rifles...

But if you can't even give up high count magazines because you'll be inconvenienced by having to reload ...then I have zero sympathy for you.

And if your suggestion is to expect teachers to be trained sharpshooters, or to employ armed militia at our children's schools, your argument is worthy of nothing but ridicule. How frightening for a child to walk past an armed guard each day...a constant reminder their lives are at risk...what would be the long term consequences of perceiving the world as such a place?

We live in the world we live in. It's the world we helped create. We are responsible for it and each other.

Do you walk by police officers everyday and cringe at the reminder that there are dangerous people out there? Or do you rest a bit easier knowing that crime is less likely in that moment because he/she is there? Which proves the point...when the 'fit hits the shan' you want to be standing next to the good guy with the gun.

@Is Honesty Possible- you're wrong. They weren't CONVICTED felons but, because they brought guns to schools, they committed felonies. They didn't get the guns legally, so that makes them felons, too.

The Sandy Hook shooter's mom KNEW he had severe mental health problems, yet she didn't remove the guns from the house. That alone would have made this a very unlikely event. One simple precaution would have kept 26 people from dying, including herself but she didn't do it. This was a case of irresponsible gun ownership and a mentally ill person who figured out how to get some guns.

You pinhead! This is all caused by people who are either stupid, insane, drunk/drugged or a combination. The guns and magazines used are not obtained legally- why don't you try to stop that, huh? Go ahead- tell criminals to stop breaking laws and see what happens. THEY DON"T CARE! Get it? You want to punish 99 million people because 1 million won't obey the laws. We should post a list of people with long criminal records and declare open season.

give the average joe on the street about 2 minutes of training and they'll be able to jack an empty standard ten round mag out and slip in a new one in under five seconds, more likely well under three seconds. So, what does restricting high cap mags accomplish? You just bring more 10-round mags and change them quickly. Instead of getting the vapors over some law-abiding and safe gun owner owning a 30-round mag, why not make life hell for the criminal and the crazy person so that we get them, and not legal gun owners, off the street?

I fail to understand how these two can do all this chest thumping. How many Co-sleeping homicides last year Flynn? Tom you should be ashamed of yourself. You treat the topic as late term abortion. Pathetic are the both of ya

left the building: Anyone with a modicum of preparation can shoot three 10-round (low capacity) magazines in the same time or just slightly more (say 2 seconds) that a semi-auto rifle or pistol can fire all thirty rounds. Forget what you see in movies, on TV , or video games such as Grand Theft Auto. This isn't spray and sway. At best it is rapid fire with a semi auto rifle and even criminals rarely spray more than 3 or 4 rounds at a stretch. I haven't practiced changing mags in quite some time, but I'm confident that I could shoot three tens just as fast as a guy can shoot a thirty. The point? What is eliminating high-cap mags going to accomplish? Nothing? Instead of wasting time on harassing legal and safe gun owners, we ought to coming down like a ton of bricks on five time felons owning guns. We ought to make life a living hell for any criminal attempting to ply his illicit trade. We need to get crazy people institutionalized where they are forced to get the treatment that they need and then keep them there until clean living and sound meds can get them back to being a useful member of society.

Jim, and will you be the one to decide who is a criminal and who isn't?No one is arguing against your right to protect yourself...but I don't think you can carry an assault rifle with you to the mall, so it's kind of a non-issue to argue that you need one for protection.

left the building: Not arguing that you need a so-called "assault rifle" (no such critter actually exists. Perhaps folks are thinking of "military style semi-automatic rifles" but that term doesn't fit their purposes as it doesn't sound as ominous as "assault rifle") No one "needs" a car that can do 120 mph but we aren't talking of banning them when cars kill more people than guns and there are lot more idiots driving cars than carrying firearms. Been on the freeway at rush hour? As to who decides who is a criminal and who isn't? Easy enough to do: Take repeat convicted felons and hound the living daylights out of them. Let them know that the cops are watching their every move. Most criminals that have been convicted twice keep repeating their crimes in their same old neighborhoods. Second: Make felon in possession of a firearm a mandatory charge such as we have with domestic abuse. In fact, make it a crime for a prosecutor to NOT charge that crime when a felon is caught with a firearm. DA Chisholm, for whatever reason, is absolutely loathe to charge that crime and only does charge it when he intends to give it away in a plea bargain. Third: Make theft of a firearm a mandatory minimum of 50 years in prison with no chance for parole even if one is juvenile when that crime is committed. Fourth: Make it way easier to commit an insane person than it is now. And make it way harder for them to get out unless they have established over multiple years that the habits needed to keep them as normal functioning contributing members of society are successfully ingrained. And they should be on "probation" for the rest of their lives. If they backslide--ever--it is back to the asylum for treatment starting at square one. But alas the anti-gun folks wold rather attack inanimate objects rather than the people causing the problem.

@Aaron Burns- what does co-sleeping have to do with Flynn and what would you have him do to prevent it? They put up a bunch of billboards with "Don't co-sleep with your children" but the problem with that is, the ones who do this probably can't read and some of the others are drunk, drugged or both when it happens. This whole thing is about people making good decisions and those who kill, don't make good decisions. They have no regard for life.